Expanding and Preserving your Brain
Dr. Steven Ross is an internist practicing in Sharon, MA. Dr. Ross specializes in the medical treatment of adults. Internists can act as a primary physician or a consultant to a primary physician. They manage both common and rare diseases. Dr. Ross provides comprehensive care and manages treatment with surgeons as well.... more
Your brain is the most important organ in your body. It allows you to think, reason, feel, move and it also controls the automatic functions of circulation, body temperature, and breathing. It releases hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, energy, and personality. Some say it is the residence of the soul.
What Factors Influence Your Brain?
Many factors influence the daily functioning of the brain: nutrition, exercise, oxygen , sleep, and circulation. Yet, neuroscientists say we only use about 10% of our brain. How can we expand our brains functioning capacity and also ensure we preserve what we already have? Of course, it is mandatory you must maintain good blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar.
The brain is composed of 100 billion individual neuron cells that are interconnected into neural highways that connect different parts of the brain. They have specific functions like sight, motion, memory, emotion, and balance. After age 18, we lose 10,000 neurons daily. Fortunately, we have billions of brain reservoirs. We must develop these reserves now to fight the ravages of aging. Like other organ systems like your muscles, the more you use it, the stronger it grows. We do this by doing something new and developing new skills.
Your Brain Sends Signals
Your brain sends signals by multiple pathways to automatically complete tasks. The more experiences and skills, the more the brain builds new neural highways, bridges, overpasses, underpasses, tunnels and on/of ramps to connect, speed and improve everything it does.
If you are right-handed, then brush your teeth with your left. If you put your left shoe on first, reverse it. Engage in some skills you currently don’t possess. A friend of ours recently taught himself to play the ukulele. Why not try your hand at bowling, golf, tennis, running or swimming. Play games that stimulate strategy like mahjong, poker or chess. Take a community course in photography, art or theater. Try experiencing Thai chi and yoga. You can even join a club.
Build New Connections
“Just do it”. Build new relationships. Your exercised brain will build a stronger architecture more able to resist time, trauma, strokes, and infection and more likely to recover fully. Opposites don’t just attract. They can create. In addition to stimulating and growing other parts of the brain with physical attributes, READ as much as you can about different subjects. This cross fertilizes the brain and makes millions of new interconnections. This makes it easier and easier to acquire new knowledge faster and faster. You may be that centurion who is known to be as sharp as a tack.
